The U. S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) became an independent Service in
September 1947. Shortly after the establishment of the U. S. Air Force, a
new investigative service was launched different in character from the other
Services. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI)
combined a number of functions which had previously been separate in the
USAAF. The AFOSI mission included counter-intelligence, criminal
investigations, certain functions under the Air Inspectors Office, and some
intelligence functions. OSI did not take all such functions under its
control, but in many cases it was the lead agency for serious criminal,
contract fraud, counter intelligence or other such investigations. The
Office of Special Investigation also was unique in that it came under the
Office of Inspector General which had its own investigative functions in
assuring compliance with Air Force policies and programs, breeches of
regulations and assessment of compliance with laws and regulations. OSI
could be used by the Inspector General (IG) to investigate matters which
come under IG's areas of mission and interest.

The functions and mission of the OSI incorporated lessons learned by
the USAAF during World War II. Joseph F. Carroll came over from the
Federal Bureau of Investigations to head the OSI, and ended his career as a
Lieutenant General in the Air Force. Certain assets and personnel of the
Army Counter Intelligence Command serving with the Air Force were
transferred to the OSI.

Colonel Doyle Rees was a lawyer, not an intelligence officer, who had
experience in cases involving fraud and the defrauding of the Air Force by
contractors. He was appointed to command the newly created 17th District
in which included New Mexico and parts of Texas. He would soon become
embroiled with "the flying discs and green fire ball investigations." In
this endeavor he was assisted by Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, head of the Institute of
Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico and recognized
expert on meteors. According to LaPaz's university records, his services were
provided for free. (LaPaz had previously been able to enlist the
military's assistance in tracing meteorite recovery.)

The "green fire ball" phenomenon involved sightings of bright green
meteor like phenomenon all over the Southwest and attracted the attention
of the scientists at Los Alamos and other facilities. The Air Force finally
asked assistance fromDr. Joseph Kaplan
who made a special oral
presentation on the problem to the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board in
1949.

LaPaz had witnessed both UFOs and green fireballs, while
Col. Rees was more than a little skeptical of flying saucers, he was convinced that
green fireballs were a reality as he and his wife had both witnessed them.

The 17th OSI District compiled over
209 reports of UFOs and green fireballs spanning a time frame of 1943 to 1950. The
USAF decided to investigate the green fireball phenomenon using a special program,
Project Twinkle.

Col. Doyle Rees had left the 17th District by this time and had no more
connection with the UFOs for the rest of his career. The Sign Historical
Group chairman, Thomas Tulien, interviewed Col. Rees for the Sign Oral History Project.
Rod Brock and Candy Peterson transcribed the interview.

Thomas Tulien's Interview can be found on the Sign Oral History Project
website at: